Ford Fiesta ST confirmed for Australia

After concept teases at previous motor shows, the little hot hatch will be unveiled within hours in production form at Geneva motor show, and will arrive in our showrooms late in 2013.

It will carry the 1.6-litre Ecoboost four-cylinder engine seen at the last Frankfurt and LA shows, using a six-speed manual to deliver 132kW of power and 240Nm of torque. Ford says the ST will cover the 0-100km/h sprint in less than seven seconds and has a top speed of 219km/h.

The Fiesta ST will sit lower than the standard car on a special sports suspension tuning, and will have triple-mode stability control and torque vectoring control that brakes the inside wheel in cornering to improve handling. It follows the Focus ST in style and will follow it on sale here - with twin exhausts, trapezoid mesh grille and body kit that includes skirts and roof spoiler.

All that is set to stay on the model we’ll see go on sale here, but Ford says it’s too early to hint about price tags. “It’s far too early to speculate on numbers and pricing,” Ford spokesman Neil McDonald says. “We’ll know more closer to it being rolled out… It will go into the US and Europe in 2012 and we’ll see it here in 2013 - but later rather than earlier.”

McDonald agrees the pair of hot hatches will add a good dose of spice to Ford’s local line-up.

“The Fiesta ST is a good complement for Focus ST, and is part of that sport technology global strategy we’ve introduced. We think there’s a lot of potential here for Fiesta as well as Focus.

“There’s certainly been a lot of interest in Australia in the smaller hot hatch segment – we’ve seen that with XR4 and XR5 models – and we expect the same with ST because it’s a harmonised approach. It’s going to excite people about the performance end of Ford’s small line-up.”